Sunny (XM)
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| Sunny | |
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| Broadcast area | United States |
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| Branding | Sunny cm |
| Slogan | The brightest channel on XM |
| Frequency | XM 24 |
| First air date | September 25, 2001 |
| Format | Early Adult Contemporary |
| Class | Satellite radio station |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications |
| Sister stations | XM11, XM21, XM22, XM152, XM154, XM157, XM158, XM165 |
| Website | Sunny |
Sunny, often branded on-air as Sunny 24, is a channel on XM Satellite Radio. It is located on channel 24 and plays pop hits from 70s, and 80s, and 90s. Although, most of the music played is from the 80s. The channel is programmed out of Nashville, Tennessee by Larry Morgan. Advertising sales are handled by Premiere Radio Networks.
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[edit] Lite (2001-2003)
As part of an investment deal with Clear Channel Communications, XM agreed to simulcast some of Clear Channel's FM radio stations. Lite was one of the original four channels (named after Lite FM), and it simulcasted WLTW from New York City, New York. With its popular soft AC format, WLTW has been the most profitable FM radio station in the US in recent years. Due to low subscription count at the time, XM's audience didn't concern themselves with the New York City locality of the station. After a couple years on the air, XM decided to move away from local simulcasts, and Lite became an exclusive-to-satellite station. However, the name Lite didn't stay.
[edit] Sunny (2003-)
On December 1, 2003, the Lite FM simulcast was dropped and the channel became its own brand: Sunny. The station was now on autopilot 24/7 with no jocks. A month later, Sunny, in addition to all XM music channels, went commercial-free, making the station auto-piloted 24/7 by music. This incarnation of XM's Sunny had a beautiful music format and was programmed by Marlin Taylor.
In March 2006, according to a 10-k filing, XM Satellite Radio mentioned that Clear Channel programmed music on XM would begin carrying commercials, including Sunny. This has been done to fulfill an arbitration settlement between XM and Clear Channel. In response to this, XM Canada, DirecTV and AOL Radio removed this channel on April 17 in favor of XM's commercial-free equivalent. Sunny now displays a "cm" next to its name on the XM unit's program-associated data to indicate that it is a commercial radio station. (As of May 5th, the artist and song title is now displayed.)
[edit] 2006
On May 1st, 2006, Sunny switched over to an adult standards style format, featuring more vocals and contemporary hits. A mix of big band hits and orchesteral favorites, easy hits from the 70's, oldies, some smooth jazz, and pop vocal standards figured in this nostalgic format. Concurrently, Escape on XM 78 replaced Sunny as the new "beautiful music" channel on XM.
On June 5th of the same year, Sunny changed formats yet again. It was now all "AM gold", with no more hit parade songs or smooth jazz vocals, but instead strictly soft pop hits from the 1960s through the 1980s. From November 19, 2006 to December 26, 2006, Sunny switched to a "holiday hits" format consisting of nonstop Christmas songs. Sunny was programmed in this period by Kevin Kash of DC101, until he was hired by XM to program hard-rock channel The Boneyard.
[edit] 2007
On 2007-07-27, Sunny 24 made musical adjustments to become more of a pop 70's and 80's formatted channel, which included more Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Genesis, etc. Musically the adjustments accommodated a slightly deeper library of hits.
Right now, there are no plans to add DJs to the channel, being one of the few on XM that is jockless.
[edit] 2008
As of May 2008, Sunny 24 is nearly equivalent to XM25's "The Blend", as many 80's songs have been added, and very few "AM Radio Hits of the 60's and 70's" remain.
[edit] External links
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